1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to information technology, and, more particularly, to systems and methods which improve usability of different products and services using information technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a large number of situations, the usefulness and comfort of a product or service can be enhanced by customizing that product or service to an optimal degree of performance for an individual user. As an example, a car is always more convenient to drive when its seats, temperature controls and preset music stations are customized according to the preferences of the driver. A bath is more comfortable if the temperature is set to a desired temperature enjoyed by the person taking the bath. A cell-phone is more convenient if the short-cut keys, welcome screen, ring-tone, and preference menu are customized to the preferences of the person using the phone.
Because of the advantages of customizing any product or service, techniques have been developed in the current state of the art, which permit people to customize preferences of their product to their liking. Thus, a driver can change the settings of the car to his desired level, and some smart cars set themselves to the setting of the driver when they recognize the driver by recognizing a key inserted into the ignition. Cell-phones and other devices, once customized, remember their user-specific preferences and maintain those customizations in subsequent power-on restart of those devices.
In many circumstances, people use devices that are not customized to them. When a driver rents a car when traveling, the driver needs to customize the settings of the new car to his preferences. Often, he or she may be unable to do so to his satisfaction. As an example, if the driver wants the first preset channel to be a country music station, he may not know what the right frequency on which such a station is playing in the area that he has rented the car from. Similarly, when a person rents rooms in a hotel, he will have to set the comfort controls of the room to his liking, and may find the new interfaces for adjusting the temperature difficult.
When a person picks up the cell-phone of his spouse to make a call, he needs to deal with the welcome screen, menu options and short-cut keys of his spouse, rather than the ones that he is familiar with. These add to a loss of usability and satisfaction gained from using the device.